Contents

Summary

The paper is interested in imaging techniques for biopolymers. In particular, the paper compares the effectiveness in imaging collagen networks of two confocal imaging methods, confocal reflection microscopy (CRM) and confocal fluorescence microscopy (CFM). The authors simultaneously image collagen using the two techniques and find that in CRM, fiber brightness depends strongly on fiber orientation. This explains why when using CRM to image collagen, the network appears to be aligned with the imaging plane, whereas in CFM, the network seems isotropic.

Background

Difference between CRM and CFM: Both CRM and CFM are confocal techniques. CRM uses back-scattered light to form an image. CFM uses laser light to excite fluorophores in an imaging sample and forms an image from the emitted light.

[Collagen http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collagen]: Collagen is a protein in mammals that forms the primary component of connective tissues in the interstitial space between cells. Collagen appears to be a branched network of fibers.

Previous research in collagen network architecture: Collagen 3-D architecture is the subject of a lot of research. To understand collagen's biological role, it is crucial to image the exact 3-D fiber environment in a cell. The most commonly used technique for imaging collage is CRM. CRM studies have shown anisotropy in collagen networks: the fibers tend to orient in the direction of the imaging plane. This might be an intrinsic property of collagen, or it could be caused by the imaging method. To determine the origin of the effect, the authors use CFM and CRM simultaneously on fluorescently labeled collagen type I networks.

Fig. 3. Intensity of individual fibers as a function of their <math>\theta</math>-angle for CFM (triangles) and CRM (circles) for both the rotated (open) and nonrotated (solid) cases. Shaded line shows expected values from theory.

Discussion

Relation to Soft Matter

This paper gives insight into a more experimental area of soft-matter physics than what we covered in our discussions of polymers. In particular it shows the great sensitivity of results about biopolymers to the imaging technique used and the dangers in using the wrong imaging technique for looking at polymers.